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of nature, having the same Master, and having been born into the same world. For in the case of money, we praise those who owe nothing; but in the case of love, we accept and admire those who are continually in debt. Let us be persuaded, therefore, and let us join ourselves to one another, and even if someone wishes to stand aloof, do not you be broken away, nor utter that cold saying: If he loves me, I love him; but if my right eye does not love me, I pluck it out; but when he does not wish to love you, then show the more love, that you may draw him to you; for he is a member; and when a member is by some necessity torn from the rest of the body, we do everything to unite it again, and we show more care then. For the reward is greater, when you draw to yourself one who does not wish to love. If he commands us to call to a feast those who cannot repay us, so that the things of the repayment may be increased; much more must one do this in the case of friendship. For the one who is loved and loves, has given you your reward; but the one who is loved and does not love, has made God your debtor in his place. And apart from these things, when he loves you, he does not need much effort; but when he does not love, then he has need of your help. Do not, therefore, make the reason for diligence a reason for indifference, nor say, "Because he is sick, for this reason I neglect him"; for the cooling of love is a sickness; but you, warm what has grown cold; for the desire to be greatly loved comes from greatly loving. For when we are not strongly disposed toward someone, neither do we require strong friendship from him, even if he is great, even if he is illustrious; but when we love someone warmly and genuinely, even if the one loved is humble, even if he is small, we consider the affection from him the greatest glory. If you do not know how to treat a brother, when will you be able to treat a stranger well? if you do not know how to handle your own member, when will you be able to draw in the one who is outside and join him to yourself? Do you wish not to be spoken ill of? Then do not speak ill. Do you desire to be praised? Then give praise. Do you wish to be shown mercy? Then show mercy. Do you want to receive forgiveness? Then grant it. Do you want not to be taken advantage of? Then do not seize. Let us be toward our neighbors such as we wish them to be toward us. For just as a soul without a body is not called a man, nor again a body without a soul, so neither is love for God, if it does not have as a consequence love for one's neighbor. Do you wish to court such-a-one? I do not forbid it, but not to the 63.570 grief of another; for not that we should be arrayed against one another were teachers given to us, but that we might all be arrayed with one another. Why are you one? Why do you not make many? Why do you not become a creator of love? Why do you not build friendship, the greatest praise of virtue? For just as being evil by agreement further provokes God, so being good in harmony further pleases him. Do not be with many for wickedness; make friends for yourself before houses, before all other things. If the peacemaker is a son of God, how much more so the one who makes friends? if the one who only reconciles is called a son of God, the one who makes those who are reconciled friends, of what will he not be worthy? For if the devil bids us to become enemies to all, while God bids us to embrace and to love; and if the one, having nailed us to the clay and the brick-making (for this is wealth), does not even allow us to catch our breath a little at night; while the other releases us from this superfluous and unprofitable care, and bids us to gather up treasures in the heavens, not from injustice toward others, but from our own righteousness; and that one, after much sweat and toil, is not only unable to help us there when we are being punished, and suffering ill on account of his laws, but even intensifies the flame; while this One, having commanded us to give even a cup of cold water, does not allow us ever to lose the reward and recompense for it, but repays it with great abundance; how is it not of the utmost folly, for those not loving a dominion so gentle and so full of good things, to serve an ungrateful and senseless tyrant, and nothing either here

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φύσεως, τὸν αὐτὸν ἔχων ∆εσπότην, καὶ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ κόσμῳ γενόμενος. Ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ τῶν χρημάτων τοὺς μηδὲν ὀφείλοντας ἐπαινοῦμεν· ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς ἀγάπης τοὺς διηνεκῶς ὀφείλοντας ἀποδεχόμεθα καὶ θαυμάζομεν. Πειθώμεθα τοίνυν καὶ συνάπτωμεν ἑαυτοὺς ἀλλήλοις, κἂν βούληταί τις ἀποστῆναι, μὴ σὺ ἀποῤῥαγῇς, μηδὲ τὸ ψυχρὸν ἐκεῖνο φθέγξῃ ῥῆμα· Ἐὰν φιλῇ με, φιλῶ· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ φιλῇ με ὀφθαλμὸς ὁ δεξιὸς, ἐξορύττω αὐτόν· ἀλλ' ὅταν σε μὴ βούληται φιλεῖν, τότε πλείονα ἐπιδείκνυσο τὴν ἀγάπην, ἵνα αὐτὸν ἐπισπάσῃ· καὶ γὰρ μέλος ἐστί· τὸ δὲ μέλος ὅταν ὑπὸ τινὸς ἀνάγκης ἀποσχίζηται τοῦ λοιποῦ σώματος, πάντα ποιοῦμεν, ὥστε ἑνῶσαι πάλιν αὐτὸ, καὶ πλείονα πρόνοιαν ἐπιδεικνύμεθα τότε. Καὶ γὰρ πλείων ὁ μισθὸς, ὅταν μὴ βουλόμενον φιλεῖν ἐφελκύσῃ. Εἰ δὲ ἐπὶ ἀρίστου κελεύει καλεῖν τοὺς μὴ δυναμένους ἡμῖν ἀντιδοῦναι, ἵνα αὐξηθῇ τὰ τῆς ἀντιδόσεως· πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ φιλίας τοῦτο δεῖ ποιεῖν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ φιλούμενος φιλῶν, ἀπέδωκέ σοι τὴν ἀμοιβήν· ὁ δὲ φιλούμενος καὶ μὴ φιλῶν, τὸν Θεὸν ἀνθ' ἑαυτοῦ σοι χρεώστην κατέστησε. Καὶ χωρὶς δὲ τούτων, ὅταν μὲν φιλῇ σε, οὐ πολλῆς δεῖται τῆς σπουδῆς· ὅταν δὲ μὴ φιλῇ, τότε σου χρείαν ἔχει τῆς ἀντιλήψεως. Μὴ τοίνυν τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς σπουδῆς αἰτίαν ποιοῦ ῥᾳθυμίας, μηδὲ λέγε, ὅτι Ἐπειδὴ νοσεῖ, διὰ τοῦτο αὐτοῦ ἀμελῶ· καὶ γὰρ νόσος ἐστὶν ἡ κατάψυξις τῆς ἀγάπης· ἀλλὰ σὺ θέρμανον τὸ καταψυχθέν· τὸ γὰρ σφόδρα φιλεῖσθαι ἐθέλειν, ἀπὸ τοῦ σφόδρα φιλεῖν γίνεται. Ὅταν μὲν γὰρ μὴ σφόδρα περὶ τινὰ ὦμεν διακείμενοι, οὐδὲ τῆς παρ' ἐκείνου σφοδρᾶς δεόμεθα φιλίας, κἂν μέγας ᾖ, κἂν περιφανής· ὅταν δὲ θερμῶς τινα καὶ γνησίως φιλῶμεν, κἂν εὐτελὴς ᾖ, κἂν μικρὸς ὁ φιλούμενος, μεγίστην τιθέμεθα δόξαν τὸ παρ' ἐκείνου φίλτρον. Εἰ δὲ ἀδελφῷ χρήσασθαι οὐκ οἶδας, πότε δυνήσῃ ἀλλοτρίῳ χρήσασθαι καλῶς; εἰ τὸ μέλος τὸ σὸν οὐκ ἐπίστασαι μεταχειρίσαι, πότε τὸν ἔξωθεν ἐπισπάσασθαι δυνήσῃ καὶ συνάψαι ἑαυτῷ; Βούλει μὴ ἀκούειν κακῶς; οὐκοῦν μηδὲ λέγε. Ἐπιθυμεῖς ἐπαινεῖσθαι; οὐκοῦν ἐγκωμίαζε. Ἐλεεῖσθαι βούλει; οὐκοῦν ἐλέει. Συγγνώμης θέλεις τυχεῖν; οὐκοῦν μεταδίδου. Θέλεις μὴ πλεονεκτεῖσθαι; οὐκοῦν μὴ ἅρπαζε. Τοιοῦτοι περὶ τοὺς πλησίον γινώμεθα, οἵους περὶ ἡμᾶς ἐκείνους εἶναι βουλόμεθα. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ψυχὴ ἄνευ σώματος οὐ καλεῖται ἄνθρωπος, οὐδ' αὖ σῶμα ἄνευ ψυχῆς, οὕτως οὐδὲ ἀγάπη πρὸς Θεὸν, ἐὰν μὴ ἔχῃ ἀκόλουθον καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸν πλησίον ἀγάπην. Βούλει θεραπεύειν τὸν δεῖνα; οὐ κωλύω, ἀλλὰ μὴ εἰς 63.570 ἑτέρου λύπην· οὐ γὰρ ἵνα κατ' ἀλλήλων συνταττώμεθα, διδάσκαλοι ἡμῖν ἐδόθησαν, ἀλλ' ἵνα πάντες ἀλλήλοις συνταττώμεθα. ∆ιὰ τί εἷς εἶ; διὰ τί οὐκ ἐργάζῃ πολλούς; διὰ τί μὴ γίνῃ δημιουργὸς ἀγάπης; διὰ τί μὴ κατασκευάζεις φιλίαν τὸ μέγιστον τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐγκώμιον; Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ ἐκ συνθήκης εἶναι κακοὺς μᾶλλον παροξύνει τὸν Θεὸν, οὕτως τὸ ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ εἶναι ἀγαθοὺς μᾶλλον εὐφραίνει. Μὴ γίνου μετὰ πολλῶν ἐπὶ κακίᾳ· κατασκεύασόν σοι φίλους πρὸ τῶν οἰκιῶν, πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων. Εἰ ὁ εἰρηνοποιὸς υἱὸς Θεοῦ, καὶ ὁ φίλους κατασκευάζων πόσῳ μᾶλλον; εἰ ὁ καταλλάττων μόνον, υἱὸς Θεοῦ καλεῖται, ὁ τοὺς καταλλαττομένους φίλους ποιῶν, τίνος οὐκ ἔσται ἄξιος; Εἰ γὰρ ὁ μὲν διάβολος ἐχθροὺς ἡμᾶς κελεύει πᾶσι γίνεσθαι, ὁ δὲ Θεὸς ἀσπάζεσθαι καὶ φιλεῖν· καὶ ὁ μὲν τῷ πηλῷ καὶ τῇ πλινθείᾳ προσηλώσας (τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ὁ πλοῦτος), οὐδὲ τὰς νύκτας ἀφίησιν ἀναπνεῦσαι μικρόν· ὁ δὲ τῆς μὲν περιττῆς ταύτης καὶ ἀνονήτου φροντίδος ἀφίησι, κελεύει δὲ συνάγειν τοὺς θησαυροὺς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς εἰς ἑτέρους ἀδικίας, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς οἰκείας δικαιοσύνης· κἀκεῖνος μετὰ τοὺς πολλοὺς ἱδρῶτας καὶ ταλαιπωρίας οὐ μόνον οὐ δύναται προστῆναι κολαζομένοις ἡμῖν ἐκεῖ, καὶ κακῶς πάσχουσι διὰ τοὺς αὐτοῦ νόμους, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπιτείνει τὴν φλόγα· οὗτος δὲ καὶ ποτήριον ἡμῖν ἐπιτάξας δοῦναι ψυχρὸν, οὐδὲ τούτου τὸν μισθὸν καὶ τὴν ἀμοιβὴν ἀφίησιν ἡμᾶς ἀπολέσαι ποτὲ, ἀλλὰ μετὰ πολλῆς ἀντιδίδωσι τῆς δαψιλείας· πῶς οὐκ ἐσχάτης ἀνοίας, τὴν οὕτω προσηνῆ δεσποτείαν καὶ τοσούτων γέμουσαν ἀγαθῶν μὴ φιλοῦντας, ἀχαρίστῳ καὶ ἀγνώμονι δουλεύειν τυράννῳ, καὶ οὐδὲν οὔτε ἐνταῦθα